When a user wishes to download particular content into his terminal, the user may access a communication network via an apparatus, such as a personal computer, a digital signage terminal, a kiosk terminal, or a smart phone, that stores the content. To achieve such an access, the user needs to acquire connection information for identifying on the communication network the apparatus that stores the content he wishes to download. The connection information includes, for example, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a service set identifier (SSID), a Bluetooth (registered trademark) ID, and the like.
In view of the above, there is proposed a technique in which data containing apparatus information in addition to wireless connection information is converted into an image pattern and the image pattern is displayed on a display at one apparatus and an image of the image pattern is captured to recover the information at the other apparatus, thereby enabling the apparatuses to be interconnected via a wireless link (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2011-205485). There is also proposed a technique in which information such as the IP address, etc., is embedded into image data in the form of digital watermark information (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-194236).